The use of LEDs as light source for illumination rather than mere indicator lights is well known, since the development of high-power LEDs. It is also rather standard that an illumination device is powered from mains, typically 230 V @50 Hz in Europe. Since LEDs require a relatively low voltage (typically in the order of 3 V) and allow current flow in one direction only, driver circuits have been developed for generating a DC LED current on the basis of the AC mains. However, such driver circuits are relatively expensive.
In a more simple approach, a string of LEDs is connected to mains directly, in series with a ballast resistor. For allowing LED current and thus light output in both halves of the AC period, two such strings are connected anti-parallel. The idea would be that, for instance, 70 LEDs would accommodate a voltage drop of 210 V, while the remaining 20 V would be accommodated by the ballast resistor. Voltage variations would be taken up by the ballast resistor.
Although the simplicity of this approach, and hence the relatively cheap implementation thereof, has a certain attractiveness, there is a problem when it is desired that the illumination device is dimmed.
For certain applications, it is not only desired that the illumination device is dimmable, but also that the colour temperature of the output light is shifted to a lower value on dimming. This requirement is specifically important in the case of small bedside lamps or reading lamps, but it may be that there are other applications where the same feature would be desirable.